Governor Gavin Newsom

New state laws address health care issues

Gov. Gavin Newsom wrapped up his bill-signing marathon Sunday, Oct.13, 2019, capping the end of a legislative session that will have a big impact on Californians’ health care and coverage. Some of the most high-profile — and contentious — measures of the year were health care-related: Who hasn’t heard of the bill that spawned raucous protests at the Capitol by anti-vaccine activists? After some hesitation,…


Newsom’s death penalty hold and the nation

Both celebration – and ire – followed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of a moratorium on the death penalty in California. California’s 737 death row inmates constitute more than a quarter of the national number. Keeping them on death row costs $150 million a year more than sentencing them to life without parole. California’s death penalty has been at an impasse for decades. The state has…


Scenes from a Democratic Convention

There were no fireworks at the seventh biennial San Diego County Democratic Convention on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Escondido’s California Center for the Arts. The old cliché of organizing Democrats being akin to herding cats did not apply to this particular gathering. Some people–gasp!–were even having fun. The trauma of Trump has eased, and what I saw were a bunch of folks bound and determined…